


Fighting Ghosts

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 11:30:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16554944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: @pillarspromptsweekly 63: Spooky. Tavi got jealous that Emiri and Adi both got fic last week and insisted on being the muse for this one. This is pretty early on her timeline; just before Near Death Experience #3 in Third Time’s the Charm. That’s right folks, this is pre-Taviloth, so hints of mutual pining ahoy!





	Fighting Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> @pillarspromptsweekly 63: Spooky. Tavi got jealous that Emiri and Adi both got fic last week and insisted on being the muse for this one. This is pretty early on her timeline; just before Near Death Experience #3 in Third Time’s the Charm. That’s right folks, this is pre-Taviloth, so hints of mutual pining ahoy!

 

There was something, Tavi decided, wrong about this house. Anyone looking at the place who knew the adventures (and misadventures) she and her friends had been through over the past several months would have laughed at that assessment, but she stood by it. The house may not have born evidence of a gul infestation like the Valtas manor, or housed a fampyr, or even teemed with spirits like Caed Nua when she first arrived, but it was still unsettling. Maybe because it seemed like a run of the mill abandoned house. It was, after all, sitting just outside a fairly large Dyrwoodan village, and no one had moved to claim it. They hadn’t even cleared it of the previous owners’ possessions.

There were few things more unnerving than walking through a house that looked like the occupants had gone for an evening stroll and never come back. There were dishes still in the sink, a book open on the table, a half-knit sweater draped over a chair--all of it covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.

 _Splitting up was a bad idea,_ she admitted to herself. It only ramped up the spookiness to hear random creaking noises, even if she _knew_ it was just Aloth and Kana upstairs.

“Find anything?” Sagani asked from behind her, and Tavi couldn’t help flinching. “Sorry. Didn’t figure you for the jumpy type, Tav.”

“I’m not.” Tavi grimaced and amended, “Usually. But this house... There’s too many fucking questions. Why’s it empty in the first place, how come no one’s moved in, what the fuck _happened_. On top of that, this place...” she hesitated, not at all sure she wanted to open that can of worms. “It’s familiar.”

“Familiar?” Sagani frowned and cocked her head. “You been here before? Y’know, not as you?”

“No.” Tavi snorted. “‘Least, I don’t think so. The layout’s Vailian.” She sighed.  “Specifically, an older style that was really fuckin’ popular before the place started fallin’ to pieces. It’s the same layout as the house I grew up in.”

“Oh.” Sagani’s eyes flashed with sympathy. She didn’t know _everything_ \--only Aloth did(so far)--but she knew enough. “Aside from bein’ creeped out, are you doing okay?”

“Yeah. It’s just weird, is all. Like deja vu. An’ when you add that to this place lookin’ like the owners walked out one day with nothin’ and never came back, not to mention no one moving in to a perfectly good house”--something creaked, loud and deep, and she flinched again--”it’s unsettlin’.”

“It is that,” Sagani agreed. She traced one finger through the dust on the table to doodle a simple paw print outline. There was another creak, followed by a muffled thud from somewhere above them, and both women frowned at the ceiling before exchanging skeptical glances.

“It’s just Aloth and Kana,” Tavi brushed it off--or tried too, cracking her knuckles.  “Prob’ly knocked somethin’ over...”

Sagani shook her head. “Pretty sure they’re at the other end of the house, Tav. And Keya and Hiravias are outside.”

“Oh.” She didn’t know what to say to that. The thud came again, more emphatically, and part of her thought she’d felt the house tremble. “How sure are you they’re at the other end of the house?”

As if to answer her question, they heard two sets of footsteps descending the stairs behind them.

“So, I’m beginnin’ to think the reason no one moved in is the fuckin’ noises,” Tavi said drolly, trying and failing to ignore another, more definite, tremble.

“Bet if we ask around town there’s a damn good ghost story for this place,” Sagani grinned, even as her gaze darted in the direction of the vibration.

“Probably.” Tavi ducked out toward the stairs to meet up with Aloth and Kana.  “Tell me those noises were you. _Please_.”

Kana shook his head. “Not all of them. I did make a couple floors creak, with how old this place is, but we thought the thud was you.”

“There were two thuds.” Tavi barely repressed the urge to pull out her sabres.

“We only heard one,” Aloth said slowly, glancing at Kana for confirmation. Kana nodded, his expression a good match for the unease worming through Tavi’s gut. “Were they the same volume?”

Sagani tugged on one of her braids and nibbled her lower lip. “One was a little quieter, but not so much for you to not hear it...”

Aloth frowned. “Odd.”

“Yeah, that’s one word for it,” Tavi snorted, hands still resting on her sabre hilts. “Let’s just go. ‘Less you two found somethin’ worth investigatin’ up there?”

“Not a thing.” Aloth shook his head. “Just more of the same.” He waved vaguely at the eerily abandoned rooms of the first floor.

“Well, then-” she began, only to be interrupted by another tremble, simultaneous with a _ **THUD**_ and the sound of shattering glass upstairs. Creeped out as she may have been, that sounded like a threat she could do something about, and Tavi had never been one to run away from _those_. She headed for the stairs, grateful the others fell in behind her. Backup couldn’t hurt.

By the time they reached the top of the stairs she could hear what sounded like someone grunting in effort and the faint tinkle of falling glass shards. She loosened her sabres in their sheaths but didn’t draw them, heard the faint _clack_ of Sagani nocking an arrow as they headed down the hall. 

Tavi pushed open the door to the largest bedroom--the source of the last several sounds--just in time to glimpse a scarred, russet-furred stelgaer halfway through the window for a fraction of a second. That was all the time it took for the stelgaer to shrink and shift down to an equally scarred, equally russet-furred orlan and tumble the rest of the way into the room.

“ _Hiravias_ ,” she hissed, not sure whether she was exasperated, furious, amused, or all three, “ _what_ the _**fuck**_?!”

Hiravias’ ear twitched. “Keya bet me I couldn’t jump that high,” he said, somehow managing to sound both cavalier and sheepish as he gingerly probed the scrapes across his chest from the broken glass. “She neglected to specify _which_ form couldn’t jump this high.” Dusting glass shards out of his hair, he turned to yell out the window, “Pay up!”

Tavi’s emotions settled on a mix of exasperated and amused. “You two are unbe-fuckin’-lievable,” she muttered. “What were you wagerin’?”

“Two weeks’ camp cleanup.” Hiravias ran one finger under the strap for his eyepatch.  “Why?”

“Just wonderin’ what the fuck made this reckless stunt a worthwhile thing to attempt in your mind.”

He snorted. “You’re one to talk about _reckless_ , boss. Anyway, why so  _‘no fun allowed’_ all of a sudden? Figured if we caught grief from anyone it would be him.” He flicked one hand casually toward Aloth.

“Oh, she’s taking the words right out of my mouth,” Aloth said dryly, then wrinkled his nose. “The gist of them, anyway.”

“That’s my _point_ ,” Hiravias retorted. “Figured on her being more excited and less judging.” He narrowed his eye at Tavi. You’re not _scared_ of this house, are you, Watcher?”

“ _No!_ ” Tavi snapped, crossing her arms defensively. “I just have a bad-”

An unholy shriek resonated out of the darkened corners of the room, followed by the charge of an indistinct, shrouded figure.

 _-feeling about this,_ Tavi finished mentally even as she yelped and spun to face the creature, sabres free and in hand. She hated fighting spirits; they were always a bitch to actually _hit_.

As if eager to prove her right, this shadow easily dodged back and forth to avoid first her sabres then Kana’s estoc. Sagani’s arrow passed right through where its shoulder should have been and clattered against the wall. It wasn’t until Aloth and Hiravias each hit it with a spell that the inky black form seemed to take on any physicality. Finally, though, while it was still glowing faintly from the magic missiles, one of her sabres cleaved through the trailing tatters.

The shadow shrieked and lunged forward, raking across Tavi’s raised arm with ethereal claws that still stung. There was a hissing screech as another arrow pierced it through, this one seeming to do some damage before falling free. The shadow let out another cry and vanished, only to reappear near the doorway, right next to Sagani.

Before either spirit or dwarf had time to do anything about their new proximity, Hiravias spat a curse and a blinding beam of sunlight slammed down on top of the shadow. Overwhelmed and weakened, the obsidian-dark specter disintegrated under the force of it.

“Good shot,” Tavi complimented archly. “I was expectin’ something like that and I still wasn’t fuckin’ prepared.”

“You were _expecting_ that thing to be here?” He raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Not that exactly, no.” She winced and rubbed her bicep where it had clawed her. “But I had a gut feeling _something_ was going to happen. S’why I was on edge enough you thought I was scared.”

Hiravias chuckled. “Nice save, then, Tav.”

“I do my best,” she said with a cheeky wink. “We really should board up that window before we leave. And by _we_ I mean mostly _you_ , since you’re the one who broke it.”

Hiravias rolled his eye. “Yes, mother.”

“Hiravias?” Tavi waited til he was looking at her and grinned. “That was pretty fuckin’ awesome, though.”

He matched her grin. “Thanks. And look on the bright side: I doubt anyone’s going to come after us to pay for the damage.”

“I think we paid enough with that little scuffle,” Sagani commented. “Makes me wish I hadn’t sent Itumaak with Keya.”

Kana chuckled. “They will be disappointed they missed the fight. On that note, we should finish up and rejoin our good paladin. I”m sure she’s wondering what’s taking us so long.”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Tavi muttered. Her arm hurt, so she hung back from the repair work and eyed the trio of gouges with curiosity verging on concern.

“Are you alright?” Aloth asked, nodding toward her arm as he joined her.

“Oh, yeah,” she brushed it off, turning her attention from the wounds to his face.  He looked genuinely concerned, which warmed her more than she’d admit. “It’s not that bad, city slicker. Barely broke the skin. They just sting a little, and I want Keya to look at ‘em because who knows what the fuck something like that may have done.” She smirked. “But potential spirit-induced fallout aside, I’ve had much, much worse.”

“Good.” He rested one hand--hesitantly, it almost seemed--on her shoulder for a brief moment. “I’m glad you’re alright.” And he stepped back to join the others, twisting one of his rings as he answered a joking inquiry from Sagani. 

The patch job was, in the end, satisfactory if not perfect, and Tavi then led the way to rejoin Keya and Itumaak before they headed into town. Under the circumstances, she was a little curious to hear the local stories behind what happened in this house. The shadow explained why no one had moved in, but they were no closer to knowing what happened in the first place.

Maybe that was just one of life’s mysteries.

<><><><><><>

Many hours--and drinks--after getting settled at the local inn, Tavi found herself losing interest in the current explanation being spun by an eager shopkeep, happy to at last have an audience. She turned her attention instead to the pitted table top, aimlessly tracing one of the dozen-odd sets of carved initials that marred its surface. She was more than a little tempted to add hers.

Not like anyone was paying her any mind. Kana and Keya were the only ones who’d joined her at the tavern--the lure of local legends too strong for either to resist--and they were both hanging on the storekeep’s every word. She started to reach for her pocketknife, but abandoned that plan when the chair next to hers creaked with the weight of someone taking a seat.

“How’s your arm?” Aloth asked as he settled in, flicking a glance at the still-unbandaged limb. “Have you talked to Keya yet?”

“Why so Mother Hen, Corfiser?” Tavi teased. She nudged an untouched tankard toward him with her elbow. “I told you it ain’t nothin’.” She laughed at his expression. “Shit, Aloth, I’m _teasing_. Your concern is appreciated.” She flexed the injured arm. “Keya said it’s fine. There’s no sign of special spooky spirit damage or anything; it’s just scratches. Not even worth wasting bandages on. I get to tough it out like a big girl.”

“You’re certainly good at that,” he said softly. “Relieved as I am that that’s not a concern, it wasn’t my original purpose in joining you.”

“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow, resting her chin on one hand.

Aloth rested his hands on the table, almost anxiously spinning one ring.  “Sagani ...mentioned what you said. About the house.”

“Oh.” Her mood instantly turned sober, postures shifting so her hands could clasp each other, fingers rubbing over faint and faded scars.

“I just wanted to make sure you were alright in that sense as well.” He reached over and rested his hand atop hers, stilling the habitual movement. When she met his gaze, he was looking at her with such open and honest concern, Tavi nearly stopped breathing. 

She, as always, scrambled for the first snarky thing she could say to break the gravity of the moment. “Don’t worry, city slicker, no lingerin’ ghosts here. Sweet of you to worry, though,” she added, hoping he didn’t feel like she was blowing him off.

Aloth smiled. “Simply returning the favor,” he said with a shrug. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before starting to let go.

Lightning fast, Tavi flipped her hand over and caught his before he could withdraw it. “Thank you, Aloth,” she said, voice pitched low. “It means a lot.” She squeezed his hand, then let go, shifting to pick at a hangnail.

“You’re welcome,” he said simply, and pushed away from the table.

She should follow him, Tavi mused. It was getting late, and they needed to be well rested for their travels tomorrow. But instead she sat at the table and watched him go, vaguely wondering how to make the ghost of an ache in her heart it go away.

No answer was forthcoming, and she reluctantly filed that mystery to be solved another day.

 

**Author's Note:**

> When I started writing this, I had only narrowed down its placement on Tavi’s timeline as ‘somewhere before The Kiss(TM). I wanted to write more Tavi and Sagani interacting bc they’re great together. It was as I progressed that the idea hit to set it tantalizingly close to that third near-death experience. I double checked the mentioned companions in TTtC and realized all of them are with her for this fic. So. This is literally just a few days before the catalyzing moment in Tavi and Aloth’s relationship(a few days before Sagani wins 50 pands off Kana *cough*). Which of course made me get all whiny and impatient writing that closing scene because they’re so close. So CLOSE and they don’t know it and Tavi’s trying to pretend the feelings aren’t there and gah.
> 
> I’ve mentioned how much I love these two, right? :D


End file.
